For many years that I had hunted the white tail deer and was successful, I would take the deer to a local processor to get my venison. It started at around $45 and I began thinking I should do it myself when it was reaching $60. I hear that today, near where I live, it is reaching $75 and more. There is no reason why anyone should have to shell out that kind of cash to have a deer processed.

Bone-in venison

I am not knocking the processor, I would do it to if I had the set up at home. Seems like easy money. But no one should have to think that that is the only way to get it done. It is very simple to do it yourself. I decided one year, that I was going to try it. If it didn’t work out right I would just have it all ground. I figured It was worth giving it a shot, just so I would know if it was possible to do at home. Boy, am I glad I did! Keep reading

Take a look at your dinner table right before you dig in. Look at those veggies in the bowl…where did they come from? That barbecued chicken, steak, or even the sausage on that pizza in front of you…where did it come from? Now, I don’t expect you to say “The ground”, “A pig”, “A cow”, or anything sarcastic like that. What I want you to think about, is WHERE did it come from?I remember last year being shocked to look on a bag of frozen vegetables and reading “Product of China” !! Anymore we are mostly used to our food being shipped from Central or even South America.

This is my favorite time of the year. The air is cooler, potential for snow is in the air, wood stoves are burning, and hunting seasons are in mid-swing.

Thanksgiving seems to me to be tied to a wonderful heritage of self-sufficiency that has been all but lost in most Americans. The idea of growing your own food, hunting for your own food, or raising your own food is mostly an interesting oddity to most Americans these days. People are just so used to ordering food from a restaurant menu or seeing it all neatly packaged in plastic at the super grocery store down the road.

The personal interaction with agriculture is lost. The appreciation of a sacrificed life, or the toil of the earth is distant. I am thankful for being able to live where I do. It gives me plenty of opportunity to appreciate healthy homegrown and harvested foods. These foods not only cost less, but are much more healthy for your body as they do not contain all kinds of hormones, antibiotics, or chemical sprays.

I also love this time of year because my family is together under one roof. The conversation that fills the air is wonderful. Watching the kids play with each other, some excited about hunting in a few days, puts a smile on my face.

I will be traveling a few hours to my brothers house for the thanksgiving meal, and then returning with another brother and his children and another one of my nephews. My home in North central PA turns into “Deer Camp” for the next few days after thanksgiving. Its a time of year that I favor most and just wanted to share my thoughts about it with you.